This week in two different schools I've had to listen to a lot of 6th grade public speaking. I was actually quite impressed with some of the kids' skills; they were better than I remember a lot of speakers being in my high school public speaking class.
One boy in particular read his speech about how he was tired of being told to respect his elders, and how adults need to respect kids more and not yell at them. It was kind of an amusing in an, "Oh, you entitled brat, you are in for a wake up call in the next few years" kind of way. Usually, adults are not going around reprimanding kids for no reason. Most school staff I know look for as many reasons to praise and encourage kids as possible, and really think carefully about how they phrase criticism. Usually, they enforce rules based on common sense, common courtesy, or safety issues. Usually you don't get yelled at the first one or two times you break a rule (unless you're doing something pretty dangerous or mean). When you repeatedly piss off an adult, especially for the same reason over and over, then they yell at you. So kid, why was it you were getting yelled at again? You didn't say. I bet you were doing something you shouldn't have done. More than once. Knock it off.
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